Blackwing Pencil Sharpeners

Wow!  Now THAT’S a sharp point!  If there’s anybody else out there that loves pencils, you will adore this pencil sharpener from Blackwing!  I’ve got these sitting on a little watercolor I did of some euphorbias in our yard.  

Already a fan of Blackwing pencils, I had to order their glow in the dark pencils, because... well, who doesn’t want glow in the dark pencils... so I ordered this sharpener as well.  One of my friends turned me on to these and I am glad!  The sharpener has a duel sharpening system; first the wood gets sharpened off.  The second hole sharpens the lead itself which has already been elongated by the first sharpening.  I can’t even get them this sharp with my knife.  Try it, you’ll like it! 

Art Book Love

Oh what a find at Good People Books in Austin! How cool is this? I know, I know, your heart isn’t going pitter patter, but mine is. :)

Sketching on a Plane

This is what an artist does when on a plane.  I look forward to being forced to sit down and make plans to get stuff done as I’m really terrible at sitting... EVER.  I copied this from a Vogue magazine.  A four hour flight is good for a couple drawings and a good read. No movies for this girl!

Sketching Portrait of Our Son

Doing some quick sketching in my small pad to keep my chops up. I never know what people are going to hire me for next, and sketching a wide variety of everything is always a good thing.  This wide variety of everything just happens to be our youngest son. :) 

I started this on a plane, minus the knife, of course.  It’s extremely sharp and works really well to sharpen my big fat pencils.  I’m not that good at it but it reminds me of my trip to Cuba and making music with the Cuban musicians.  When we needed to correct our music or make notes, I noticed that they could sharpen their pencils to deadly weapon status with a few strokes.  Sheesh!

Anyway, if you need me to do some artwork for you or sharpen your pencils, let me know. :)